KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Stavros N. Yiannouka is the CEO of the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), a major initiative of Qatar Foundation dedicated to building the future of education through debate, dialogue and purposeful action.

Before joining WISE, Stavros was Executive Vice-Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore (2005-2012). At the LKY School he spearheaded the implementation of an ambitious growth strategy he helped develop as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company. Stavros is the co-author, with Kishore Mahbubani, et al. of Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy: Building a Global Policy School in Asia (World Scientific, 2012).

Stavros worked at McKinsey & Company from 2000 to 2005, serving private and public sector clients in Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea and Canada, predominantly in the financial services, healthcare and education industries. From 1995 to 1998, Stavros practiced corporate law in the City of London with the firms Gouldens, and Mayer, Brown & Platt. He holds an MBA (with Distinction) from the London Business School, an LLB (with Honours) from the University of Bristol, is a member of the Law Society of England and Wales and an Adjunct Professor and Senior Advisor at the LKY School.

Yao Zhang, founder and CEO of RoboTerra Inc., has been working in the education and technology field for more than a decade. RoboTerra, recognized as the annual "Star Company" at the 2014 World Learning Technology Summit and a "Top 30 Innovations Company in 2015 SVIEF", provides a cloud-based learning solution connecting educational robots built by students and respective course modules, which allows students a rewarding and fun learning experience. A Columbia University alumna, Yao was recognized for her great entrepreneurship, contribution and leadership in robotics and education, as a "Top 25 Women in Robotics in 2015" by RoboHub, and most recently honored as a 2016 Young Global Leader by Davos World Economic Forum, an Innovation Ambassador by the United Nations (UNCTAD), a Global Future Council AI & Robotics Committee member and one of "7 Women in AI & Robotics" by major tech media.

Yao Zhang, founder and CEO of RoboTerra Inc

Speakers

Andrew Yang is an entrepreneur and author running for President as a Democrat in 2020. In 2011 he founded Venture for America, a national entrepreneurship fellowship, and spent the last 6 years helping to create more than 2,500 jobs in cities like Cleveland, Detroit, and Pittsburgh. When Andrew realized that new technologies like artificial intelligence and automation threatened to eliminate one-third of all American jobs, he knew the nation needed a leader with a vision for our radically different future. In The War on Normal People (April 2018), he explains the mounting crisis and makes the case for a Universal Basic Income: $1,000 a month for every American adult, no strings attached, one of the central pillars of his policy platform.

Andrew Yang, Presidential Candidate for 2020

Ajay Kapur is the President and co-founder of www.kadenze.com, a site that brings STEAM education to the world. He is also the Associate Dean for Research and Development in Digital Arts at the California Institute of the Arts. Kapur has published over 150 technical papers and presented lectures across the world on music technology, human computer interface for artists, robotics for making sound, creative applications of machine learning, modern digital orchestras, and education technology. His first book “Digitizing North Indian Music”, discusses how sensors, machine learning and robotics are used to extend and preserve traditional techniques of Indian Classical music. His latest book "Introduction to Programming for Musicians and Digital Artists" is a textbook for artists to learn computer science.

Ajay Kapur, President and co-founder of kadenze

Alejandro (Alex) Jaimes is head of AI/ML/R&D at DigitalOcean and advisory CTO and chief scientist at Acesio. His work focuses on machine learning, mixing qualitative and quantitative methods to gain insights on user behavior for product innovation. Alex is a scientist and innovator with 15+ years of international experience in research leading to product impact at companies including Yahoo, KAIST, Telefónica, IDIAP-EPFL, Fuji Xerox, IBM, Siemens, and AT&T Bell Labs. Previously, Alex was CTO at AiCure and director of research and video products at Yahoo, where he managed teams of scientists and engineers in New York City, Sunnyvale, Bangalore, and Barcelona. He was also a visiting professor at KAIST. He has published widely in top-tier conferences (KDD, WWW, RecSys, CVPR, ACM Multimedia, etc.) and is a frequent speaker at international academic and industry events. He holds a PhD from Columbia University.

Alex Jaimes, CTO and Chief Scientist at Acesio

Amy Blankson is the bestselling author of The Future of Happiness, is the only person to receive a Point of Light from two sitting US Presidents. After graduating from Harvard College and Yale School of Management, she has focused her work on understanding how to cultivate happiness in a digital era. She is a member of the UN Global Happiness Council, a Fellow of the World Innovation Organization, and is currently working with the IEEE to create standards for well-being in the creation of artificial intelligence and emotion awareness. Most recently, Amy has shared her thought leadership as a speaker at TEDx, as a regular contributor for Forbes on Women, Technology, and Leadership, and as a featured professor in Oprah’s Happiness course.

Amy Blankson, Author of "The Future of Happiness"

Dr. Helen Liang, Managing Partner of FoundersX Ventures, has invested in over 20 early stage tech companies in AI and Big Data value chain, including Edtech. She has over 12 years of experience in new product development and technology investment in high-tech industry.

Dr. Liang teaches Design Thinking & Product Innovation in Stanford University and Tsinghua University as a guest lecturer. She also serves as a judge at Stanford BASES Challenge.

Dr. Liang has been an invited speaker at the AI Forum in 2017 Wuzhen Summit in China and at the 2018 AI Roundtable in Dubai.

Dr. Helen Liang, Managing Partner of FoundersX Ventures

Nathaniel Krasnoff is an investor at Wildcat Venture Partners, an early stage Bay Area based VC looking at how intelligent systems affect a broad range of verticals including Workforce Innovation, retail, supply chain, logistics, fintech, edtech, insuretech, digital health, enterprise iOT, and others. Nathaniel is a recovering mechanical engineer with a passion for developing new products and initiatives that improve the lives of the people who use them. To date, he has spent the majority of his professional career developing technology in the spaces of augmented reality (AR) and transportation through which he designed and built AR motorcycle helmets and electric race boats, and is a proud member of World Economic Forum’s Global Shaper Initiative.

Nathaniel Krasnoff, Investor, Wildcat Venture Partners

Srinivas is currently a manager for Solutions Architectecture with Amazon Web Services. He has experience in global operations with high transaction websites and transforming company from on-premise to Cloud and adapting DevOps.

Mike has over 25 years of experience in mechanical engineering and design, including manufacturing, design, analysis, testing, and systems integration. He has designed machinery, small mechanisms, space craft structures, printed circuit boards, wiring harnesses, and electronic packaging. Mike has also performed stress, thermal, shock, and vibration testing, statistical and worst case tolerance analysis, and materials selection for reliability in extreme environments.

He has hands-on CAD and machine shop experience fabricating prototypes, along with the use of rapid prototyping (3D printer) equipment and technologies. His information technology experience includes system repair, data recovery, networking, and web development.

Mike has a BS Degree in Engineering and Applied Science from the California Institute of Technology. He is a Certified Quality Engineer (CQE) and Certified Reliability Engineer (CRE)

He has worked in the automotive, petrochemical, nuclear, aerospace, medical instruments, and consumer products industries. He has consulted at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Hughes Space and Communications, EG&G Rocky Flats, Schlage Lock, Ethicon, DuPont, Bechtel, United Engineers and Constructors, Motorola, Ford, FMC, and numerous small business clients.

mike doty, CTO & Co-founder Ark.Io

Anthony Baird is CEO, I.A.M-EPPIC Enterprises, LLC, a 3 Pillar Motivational Speaking, Coaching and E-Commerce Business, Co-founder, “CoachTalk” and Yanset. YANSET is a technological solution for education institutions and workforce systems to improve learners and job seekers’ career readiness. Doctor of Higher Education Leadership, Johnson and Wales University-- Dr. Baird is ready to scale his 30+ years of academic excellence, professional experience, and innovative problem-solving to advantage higher education institutions, employers, and students, alike. He encourages these three stakeholders to focus on the return on students’ human capital investment, by clarifying how students learn what they know, and what they know to do before, during, and after college. College Graduates need both a 21st century education and 21st century hands on experiences upon graduation.

Dr. Baird is the Director of Corporate Programs Development, Career Management and Coaching at UMass Dartmouth, Charlton College of Business.

Dr. Baird is an active Leadership South Coast (LSC) Graduate, 2013, Chair, LSC Alumni Network, and LSC Board Member. He now serves as a Board Member for the United Way, New Bedford and a newly elected Corporator of Narragansett Financial Corp, the holding company of BayCoast Bank.

DR. Anthony M. Baird, CEO of I.A.M-EPPIC Enterprises

Borna Scognamiglio is the CEO and co-founder of Pixis. A former researcher at Paris-Sorbonne University, he holds a double bachelor’s degree in cultural heritage and cultural management, a master’s degree in history as well as diplomas in entrepreneurship from ESCP Europe and in design thinking from École Centrale, Lyon. He strongly believes in the application of scientific research methodology, and that education is a crucially important means for social emancipation. Borna is the founder of a network of Italian researchers in France. He is an executive board member of Fondo Ambiente Italiano - France. With Pixis, Borna dreams of giving everyone the chance to cultivate her or his passions and talents. As a member of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network --Youth (SDSN Youth) initiative, he aims to foster education and personal development for all, and to support young people in taking action for a more meaningful, sustainable world.

Borna Scognamiglio, CEO & co-founder of Pixis

Dr. Chibeza Chintu Agley holds a first-class BSc degree for Brunel University where he was co-founder of a cloud platform for students to share information about applying to University and their experiences whilst there. Chibeza went on complete an MSc and then PhD from King’s College London in physiology and adult stem cell biology respectively. For his PhD thesis Chibeza was awarded the Tadien Rideal Prize for outstanding doctoral research in molecular science. After finishing his PhD, Chibeza began his postdoctoral work at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute and was soon after appointed to the position of 'Research Fellow in Genetics' at Homerton College, University of Cambridge. During this time Chibeza co-founded CamBioScience Limited with two other colleagues from the University of Cambridge. CamBioScience has developed a cloud-based enterprise EdTech platform called OBRIZUM® that allows managers in high-skill based areas to automatically create and deliver adaptive online courses and assessments. The OBRIZUM® platform in poised to disrupt the professional education system and transform the trading of knowledge both within and between organizations. The platform is built to overcome the content, cost, scale and efficiency challenges of providing learning and development opportunities to a globally distributed workforce or student base. OBRIZUM’s adaptive course creation and analytics tools are available to enterprises via PaaS and SaaS based subscription models.

Chibeza Chintu Agley, CEO & Founder of CamBioScience

With an MBA from Stanford Business School and a Ph.D degree in Computer Science, Jessie worked in top high-tech companies including Google and Intel, as well as a couple of start-ups. In her 9 years at Google, she spearheaded the product efforts to start Google’s Cloud Platform product line and build the distribution network for Youtube. In 2017, Jessie founded Create & Learn. The mission of Create & Learn is to teach kids latest digital technologies such as Data Science and AI, with the ultimate goal of developing their higher order thinking skills such as critical thinking, creativity, and social-emotional skills.

Jessie Jiang, Founder of Create & Learn

Founder and CEO of letsrobot.tv, an open robotic telepresence live-streaming network. I was actually a professional artist for over 10 years before i got into interactive and game design. I've worked on games big and small at companies like Disney and others no one's heard of. I picked up programming to make my own video games, including music. Games need music! Now since i've started a robotics company, i've learned a lot about hardware, and have developed many of my own robots.

Michelle Ching was a teacher in Oakland who wanted to solve a critical problem in her classroom. Literacy instruction needed to improve if her students would be successful. Michelle recruited an ex-Apple designer and a serial startup CTO to help her do just that. Together, they've built Literator.

Now, as Founder and CEO of Literator she's helping over 1,100 schools around the world meet their student's exact literacy needs. Literator has won several awards and honors from the TechStars Startup Weekend, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Teach For America, Tech Inclusion, Camelback Ventures, and The Unreasonable Group. Xiaohoa Michelle was listed as a 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 in Education and a Forbes 30x100 "intelligencer" set to influence the next century.

She's been a speaker at UC Berkeley, Stanford, Google, SXSW EDU, and ASU GSV, and has been featured in Forbes, Voice of America, Edsurge and Business Insider.

Michelle Ching, CEO & Founder of Literator

Karen Carvajalino is a passionate dreamer, social entrepreneur, author and education activist. Carvajalino is the COO and co-founder of The Biz Nation, an ed-tech company that empowers youth with technology skills, entrepreneurship and financial education applying a revolutionary methodology that significantly improves student learning. By donating 15% of the profits, the company takes productive and high quality education to vulnerable communities. The Biz Nation was named by the World Economic Forum and The World Bank as 1 of the 50 companies reshaping the future of LATAM. Karen, started her first business along with her sisters when she was only 7 years old. Since then, they became speakers and embarked on a mission of dramatically reshaping education and jumpstarting the economic growth of the region. The young sisters have dedicated the past decade to inspiring and impacting more than 500,000 people around the globe. Karen is also the co-author ofParents and Coaches:Unleash Your Children's Inner Entrepreneur. She has been nominated to different international awards including the White House Champions of Change and was also declared Historical and Cultural Heritage of her home country, Colombia.

Karen Carvajalino, Coo & co-founder of The Biz Nation

Laura Montoya is the Founder and Executive Director of Accel.AI, a global Non Profit Institute lowering the barriers to entry in engineering artificial intelligence, she also founded and co-Chairs the Latinx in AI Coalition. She has been described as a natural and versatile leader with a passion for AI, Computer Science, Research, and Psychology. She has a Bachelors of Science in Biology, Physical Science, and Human Development. She jumpstarted her career in software engineering at Intuit revamping their Quickbooks online platform. She is a Director with Women Who Code, a global non-profit dedicated to inspiring women to excel in technology careers.

Laura Montoya, CEO & Founder of Accel.AI

Osman Koç is a creative technologist / artist, who uses technology as a medium for expression. Directed by his curiosities, Koç’s works touch many different fields such as cybernetics, artificial intelligence, biosensors, kinetic sculptures, reactive lighting, audiovisual performances and games with alternative physical controllers.

In 2014, he co-founded Iskele47, a multidisciplinary design hub / makerspace in Istanbul, where he experimented, prototyped, taught, consulted, collaborated, made and played. Since 2017 he is continuing his activities in San Francisco, CA.

He is also a member of the visual performance trio NOS Visuals and collaborative network Epitome.

Osman Koc, Co-founder of Iskele47

Dr. Tsvi Achler has a unique background focusing on the neural mechanisms of recognition from a multi-disciplinary perspective. He has done extensive work in theory and simulations, human cognitive experiments, animal neuro-physiology experiments, and clinical training.

He has an applied engineering background, has received bachelor degrees from UC Berkeley in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and advanced degrees from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Neuroscience (PhD), Medicine (MD) and worked as a post doctorate in Computer Science as well as at Los Alamos National Labs (LANL) and IBM Research Labs.

He founded Optimizing Mind with a goal to provide the next generation of learning algorithms.

Tsvi Achler, Founder & CSO At Optimizing Mind

Satheesh Subramanian is responsible for the content creation and publishing platform. Prior to Blippar, Satheesh held key R&D roles at DreamWorks Animation and Intel Corporation. He headed the R&D organization for DreamWorks Animation in Bangalore, India, developing high performance animation, cinematography and big data solutions. He has over 10 movie credits to his name including the Oscar nominated "How to Train your Dragon", "Kung Fu Panda" and "Madagascar" series. He also holds a patent for a novel system for arbitrary motion retargeting. At Intel, he held senior research and consulting positions within Intel's Design Technology & Software Solutions Group. Satheesh holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management, UCLA, a Masters in Computer Science from the University of Illinois specializing in Collaborative Virtual Reality and a Masters in Mathematics and Bachelors in Computer Science from the BITS, Pilani.

Satheesh Subramanian, VP of Engineering at blippar

Steven Steinke is a curriculum developer for NVIDIA’s Deep Learning Institute focused on healthcare applications such as imaging, genomics, and analytics. Before entering the field of machine learning, he was a researcher in quantum theory at Caltech and University of Arizona. He has extensive education experience and has also worked in biotech. He is committed to expanding the availability of training in artificial intelligence to put these important tools into the hands of those who need them most.

Steven Steinke, NVIDIA’s Deep learning Institute

Alan Sien Wei Hshieh is a UI/UX designer, software engineer, and cognitive scientist based in California. He is currently UI Engineer and Designer at Apple Inc., where he focuses on internet technologies. Hshieh hopes to use cognitive science to create human interfaces that better global communication and increase access to information.

Prior to joining Apple, Hshieh worked at Google, where he developed and designed Android applications and contributed to Google ATAP. He also participated in MAKEwithMOTO, an ATAP initiative which hosted hackathons with IOIO-equipped phones, 3D printers, and a Velcro-covered truck with university students and makers across the United States.

Hshieh graduated from the Symbolic Systems Program at Stanford University with a specialization in cross-cultural human interfaces. He also acted as a human-computer interaction consultant to Harvard University and participated in 500 Startups’ second class as UI/UX Product Manager for Snapette Inc.

In his wind-surfing time, Hshieh enjoys traveling, learning languages, and beatboxing.

Alan Sien Wei Hshieh, UI/UX designer at Apple

Elyas joined WISE in 2013. Since coming onboard, he has been tasked with managing and settingup of the summit’s platform.Elyas brings WISE a vast and rich know-how with his experience in the public and privatesectors. Before joining WISE, he worked as a political advisor to the Quebec Justice Minister,Leader of the Quebec Parliament, and then followed with a position at a Toronto-basedcompany that specializes in mergers and acquisitions.The World Innovation Summit For Education is an international initiative that aims attransforming the world of education through innovation, created by the Qatar Foundation.Elyas serves WISE as its CEO’s main collaborating officer. He is in charge of preparing andcoordinating the organization’s biannual event, held in Doha, and ensures the smooth carryingout of international forums.Elyas studied International Relations at Université de Sherbrooke and obtained a Masters inPublic Policy at the prestigious Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University ofSingapore (NUS).

Elyas Felfoul, Head of Administration at WISE

Kenny Chen is the Innovation Director at Ascender, a Pittsburgh-based economic development nonprofit that simultaneously functions as a startup incubator, coworking space, community hub, and producer of the annual Thrival Innovation + Music Festival. In his role, Kenny focuses on facilitating strategic initiatives and cross-sector partnerships that leverage Pittsburgh’s entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems to advance global dialogues on ethics and policy considerations surrounding emerging technologies.In addition to his work at Ascender, Kenny is the cofounder of involveMINT, a social currency platform that partners with local businesses to reward volunteers for nonprofits. He also serves as an XPRIZE Ambassador, Techstars Community Leader and Startup Weekend Facilitator, World Economic Forum Global Shaper, and board member at the Pittsburgh Entrepreneurs Forum and Social Venture Partners Pittsburgh.Kenny’s career interests in cross-sector collaboration have led him to work in and learn the “languages” of various fields, including education, behavioral research, federal government, local government, nonprofits, foundations, economic development, and entrepreneurship. He holds a degree in Social Psychology from UC Berkeley, and has worked in Las Vegas, San Francisco, Washington DC, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Haiti, and Pittsburgh.

Kenny Chen, Innovation Director at Ascender

Manish Sinha is a bay area based fullstack engineer and corporate trainer. Some of his clients include Kleiner Perkins, MobilizeAmerica, Credit Suisse, UBS, and TIAA. Prior to his consulting work, he co-founded an equipment sharing startup, was a technology associate at Morgan Stanley, and was an operations staff assistant in the Obama White House. He's in his fourth year as a volunteer for ScriptEd where he teaches underserved high school students how to code. He also mentored and judged in the first ever hackathon in the Gaza Strip on behalf of a NGO. He has both a B.S. and M.S. in Computer Engineering from UC Irvine and Columbia University respectively.

Manish Sinha, PresIDENT of CVC (Columbia Venture Community)

Melissa is an award-winning senior executive with expertise building rapid scale-up businesses in start-up, Fortune 500, and social impact environments. She is proven in conceptualizing, monetizing and scaling up businesses that uplift lives, exponentially, extremely fast. Melissa has ground experience leading teams, building products and conducting UX research in Asia, Europe, Africa & Southeast Asia markets.

Currently, Melissa is the Vice President of Product at Roboterra, working on developing AI & Robotics educational products for students. Previously she served as VP of Product & Global Marketing for Greenlight Planet, a top Fast Company social impact company developing solar solutions for off-grid consumers in over 60 countries. She built the company’s first comprehensive product management system, lead teams to study & live in villages without electricity throughout Africa, India & SE Asia, and created an in-house creative agency to inspire off-grid consumers in emerging markets. Melissa also headed up a mobile accessory business unit at Belkin International, which won product awards at CES, growing from scratch to $50M in 18 months to become the #1 highest volume seller in Apple stores worldwide. Prior to that she was the Director of Asia Marketing for TOM Shoes which for every pair purchased, gives a pair of shoes to a child in need.